S160 'Big Jim' steams again

[richard]

Chris Bates at the K&WVR reports their S160 'Big Jim' steamed for the first time in 20+ years last weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNYOoLnK ... e=youtu.be

I remember this was stripped to the frames when I had a tour of Haworth a few years back. Good to see it running!
However there's something incongruous with a 'cycling lion' and Yorkshire accents on a US loco!

[2392]

A most intreging what if fictisous livery. Which in turn has set me thinking, how about turning out the British WD 2-8-0 also based on the Worth Valley in LNER colours as an O7? Just as fictisous a livetry as the current British Railways livery.

[Bryan]

Lovely job though.

[James Brodie]

Austerity finish,
Sirs, The WD in LNER was an authentic livery. It must be as I have done my 0 gauge ( non preferred) version in gloss black and LNER on the tender. Loco and tender complete with Westinghouse pump and back and front vac/air/steam heat connections. I have used modellers licence for the 2-10-0 version.
James.

[2392]

Austerity finish,
Sirs, The WD in LNER was an authentic livery. It must be as I have done my 0 gauge ( non preferred) version in gloss black and LNER on the tender. Loco and tender complete with Westinghouse pump and back and front vac/air/steam heat connections. I have used modellers licence for the 2-10-0 version.
James.

Yes the LNER & BR liveries as well as Longmoor Military Railway blue, were authentic colour schemes for the British based/owned exWD 2-8-0s, but not for the Worth Valley's survivor as it was first taken into to service [second hand army surplus just like the rest of the type around the world] by the Dutch National Railways along with others, then it and one other was sold to the Swedish State Railways later on I'm not quite sure when. Both locomotive had their tenders cut down from 8 wheelers to 6 and the cabs were modified too for use in the Artic conditions in Northern Sweden. Both were then put into the Swedish strategic reserve. Whilst the Worth Valley were successful in saving their machine I have heard that the Nene Valley were in negotiations to buy the other when it was inadvertantly broken up whilst these negotiations were going on.........That was in the early[?] seventies when the Swedish reserve was wound down and scrapped.

[James Brodie]

Stored steam,
Need to check if the stored steamers are still there in Saudi Arabia.
James.

[52D]

Stored steam,
Need to check if the stored steamers are still there in Saudi Arabia.
James.

I was there for 5 years and never found them.

[drmditch]

Just wish to point out that my (Bachmann) 07 is 3113, being a Heaton loco in 1947. It does of course have LNER on the tender, but with all this talk of nationalisation who knows what will happen!

I think it un-reasonable to condemn 'fictitious' liveries out of hand. After all, the whole idea of maintaining and operating steam engines in the 21st century without the engineering infrastructure which designed, built and maintained them might be described as an exercise in romantic fiction anyway! One into which many people put a lot of effort, time, and money.

Would anyone condemn the fitting of a vacuum ejector to the NELPG's Q6? A most un-prototypical fitting for a mineral engine, but which allows a 95 year old locomotive to earn revenue (and may she soon be back in service!).

To avoid the knots the NRM has tied itself into with the difference between 'preservation' and 'conservation', perhaps the test should be 'credible' and not 'authentic'. The later gives rise to all kinds of issues about the state and equipment of the locomotive compared with it's livery at a particular point in time. How many operating steam locomotives are now actually in the condition in which they were withdrawn by BR?

For what it's worth, here are my views on some particular examples!

P3(J27) 2392 as first running in preservation in pre-1917 NER livery (when she was built in 1923 under the LNER). I really liked this, and would like to see it restored after her current overhaul.

K1 2005 when running in apple green with LNER on the tender. Brilliant - the LNER was trying to re-paint all it's locos green anyway!

A1 60163 in apple green as 163 with LNER on the tender. (I think this was a private commission for photography just before she was re-painted dark green.) Exactly as an A1 should be.

S160 6046 in highly polished black with stainless steel lettering. Magnificent!

On the other hand:-
8F 8624 in LMS maroon is, for me, a step to far! (Although it might be interesting if one of the Turkish 8Fs could be finished as an LNER 06!)

J21 876/65033 was painted in NER Saxony green when first preserved at Beamish. I'm probably being inconsistent with this one, but it always struck me as incongruous. After all it would always have been in black after it was re-built with piston valves. Not that I've anything against Saxony green - anyone for a new-build T/T1/Q5 anybody? (Might be better at going up hills than a V/C6 - which would look lovely though!) We do have an O/G5 to look forwards to.

Slightly more seriously, our preserved railways need to preserve public interest. There are a lot of black engines. I think there should be a lot more in shiny apple green.
Forward the LNER!

*** Edited a bit later. Perhaps this post is too inflammatory! Should it be moved to one of the 'might have been' threads? Apologies to anyone whose deeply held beliefs are upset by this.***

[richard]

I understand the KWVR S160 might be in BR black to annoy 'purists who don't lift a hammer to help or donate anything' and that it will probably be painted in USATC grey eventually.

[2392]

I understand the KWVR S160 might be in BR black to annoy 'purists who don't lift a hammer to help or donate anything' and that it will probably be painted in USATC grey eventually.

Indeed you may have a point, having a go at the "armchair" experts who don't lift a finger one way or another.......

[Boris]

When I ran my 7.1/4 gauge 07 Austerity it ran under L.N.E.R. 3031, mine and my wife's birth years.
It was an authentic number and I had a diamond North British plate fitted which several ''spotters' commented on as being correct.
There is a picture of the full size 3031 in one of Yeadon's 'Green Books'
The loco is now owned by Paul Norman of PNP PLASTICS See his web site

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

I saw 'Big Jim' at the gala,and it looked splendid.I am having problems uploading photos on the pc at the moment,once i'm sorted,i'll put a pic on.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Don't mind most liveries, at least the loco wearing it is still with us

G'Day FF, long time no see

manna

[paulmblythe]

Big Jim was the first steam loco I was hauled by as a child. It is great to see her/him back in action. I will never forget one extremely wet day when it hauled us out of Keigthley up the gradient slipping all the way.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Hi Manna,yep still breathing!! Could do with a major overhaul though!!